The Burnt Rose Cross:  Bites of Visions
by a1y-puff
Summary: An EXTRA for Nherizu's THE BURNT ROSE CROSS. Allen woke up from his restless sleep to realize that—yes, he was in Matell now, somehow, and Kanda was with him, willing him to wake up, only to throw something at his still rather disoriented self.


**Title:** Bites of Visions  
><strong>Author:<strong> a1y-puff  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> D. Gray-Man  
><strong>Characters: <strong>Kanda, Allen  
><strong>Genre:<strong> friendship/angst?  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Allen woke up from his restless sleep to realize that—yes, he was in Matell now, somehow, and Kanda was with him, willing him to wake up, only to throw something at his still rather disoriented self.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG  
><strong>Warning: <strong>None  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Me no ownie, me no ownie!

**Beta:** Kobalto

**A/N: **This is an EXTRA for the fic **THE BURNT ROSE CROSS **by **Nherizu**. Read that first. Don't kill me or accuse me of anything because this idea did come up from some random convo between me and Nheri, and I was all "Oooh, this should totally be an omake!" and then she went "Then you write it!" so here it is. This was supposed t be a cute, cracky omake. It turned out to be a _somewhat_ cute, angsty extra instead. XD;

Anyway this was written under Nheri's supervision and approval, just fyi. Hope you like =)

For: **Sylviolin**, who hosted a challenge of writing a fanfiction _from_ _another_ fanfiction in the Indonesian Fanfiction Author Forum (**INFANTRUM**)..

_**IMPORTANT! **This happens around the time Lenalee found out about what happened to Link and how Allen escaped, and before Kanda was talking to Alma_ _in chapter 1._

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><p><em><strong>The Burnt Rose Cross:<strong>_

**- BITES OF VISIONS -**

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><p>.<p>

There was a nudge on his leg—a light pressing of something against the back of his thigh. Allen was vaguely aware of it, but right now, he couldn't do much but frown in discomfort. He curled up more into himself, seeking warmth and safety—things that he had not have in a while now.

The light nudge became a little stronger, a bit more incessant as he let out a groan, shaking his pounding head slowly, restlessly. The lines between his eyebrows were deepening, and Allen let out a whine.

_No. Mana—_

His body was sore, still, despite all of his wounds were nearly healed. The hard ground that was his makeshift mattress wasn't all that comfortable, but Allen wasn't going to complain now. He'd been used to sleeping on the ground once upon a time; before he'd met Mana. And even after that, their life couldn't really be called 'comfortable', but it had been enough.

Even the hard, cold ground would be enough, if Mana—

There was an impatient sigh, followed with a growl as that nudge turned harsh, and that finally woke him up. "Wha—"

Allen blinked once, twice, eyes bleary and disoriented. He had to squeeze his eyes shut again when a wave of dizziness attacked him. Groaning, the white-haired boy brought his hand up to cradle his head before attempting to open his eyes for the second time. The first thing he saw was Kanda's scowling face.

Slowly, it came back to him. Right. He—was in Matell, somehow. With Kanda. It somewhat gave him some semblance of comfort, though Allen didn't really know why. He was just—relieved. Maybe because dreams about Mana tend to leave him feeling lonely, so...

His grey eyes slowly drifted down as a realization hit him that something had been nudging him to wakefulness, and found the tip of Kanda's boot pressed against his thigh. Allen was really torn between annoyance and gratefulness. Of course, so the harsh nudge earlier was Kanda kicking him awake.

Trying to push himself up slowly, the British boy mumbled something about 'how to treat the injured properly'. A rather thick material slid down his shoulders with the movement, and that was when he noticed the makeshift blanket. He blinked once, twice. It looked like some kind of a coat…but before he could ask about it, or even fully sitting up, a bunch of soft things were raining down upon him for the second time that day, and Allen looked down to his lap to find a batch of bread.

Frowning up at Kanda, he really couldn't help but comment, "Would you stop raining me with bread?" Not that Allen wasn't grateful for the food but, "That's no way to treat food. Next thing I know, you'd be raining me with _soba_."

The older male merely raised an eyebrow. "I see you're well enough to be fucking annoying now."

"Thanks to you," Allen replied as he sifted through the stack of bread and chose which to eat first. He heard Kanda snort, and he tilted his head. "What, you don't want me to say thank you?"

Long strands of black hair swished lightly as the Asian man shook his head at that and kneeled on one knee to help the boy sit straight by pulling on his arm none-too-gently. "Whatever, beansprout. Eat."

"…thanks," Allen said in a near-whisper as he picked one bread and tore the wrapper. He took a big first bite, and the chocolate paste inside the bun flew into his mouth, teasing his tongue with its sweetness. He finished the bread in three large chomps.

Next, he started grabbing random bread as his stomach growled in appreciation and demanded that Allen start eating again. Thinking back, the boy himself couldn't really understand how he had survived without food back in those days when he had been held prisoner.

Kanda shifted from his kneeling position to sit cross-legged just a little further away from the younger teen, observing silently. When Allen looked up, he could tell that the way Kanda's eye twitched probably had something to do with how he was inhaling his food, so he slowed down a little, nibbling at—ah, a strawberry bread this time.

"Where did you get these?" he asked if only to fill the silence. And he was curious, too. After all, it wouldn't be easy to be walking around carrying this much bread, right? Or well, it might not be difficult, but troublesome, still.

Kanda clucked his tongue and turned his head to the side, arms crossed. Defensive. "I told you, they're my food stock for a week."

One white eyebrow was raised in amusement. "Ah-huh," Allen's lips quirked up at the corners, amusement clear in his grey eyes. "I thought I had _inhaled_ your food stock this afternoon?"

_That_ made the Japanese growl, and Allen chose not to pursue the issue further. It didn't stop him from chuckling, though. "I didn't know you like _strawberries_."

Kanda's lips parted in their readiness to shoot back a retort. But before he could process a smart comeback, Allen tore a piece of the bread with the strawberry jam and pushed it into Kanda's open mouth.

There was a growl, some choking noises, and then Kanda was hacking distastefully, swallowing quickly and doing what he could just to get the sweet taste away from his tongue. "What the fuck?" he managed between coughs, tongue poking out as a sign of his aversion for the sweetness.

A tingling laughter accompanied the whole choking process that Kanda had to suffer through, though Allen _did _try and fail to keep his amusement down. Even Kanda's death glare couldn't make the boy stop. But then from the corner of Kanda's mouth, the strawberry jam leaked out, red against Kanda's otherwise pale complexion, and Allen's mind screeched to a halt.

Memories invaded his brain—memories of blood, the _Apocryphos_, of what it did to Link, to _Master Cross_ and of what _Allen_ had done to it in return and—

What _had_ he done? All he could see was red. Red on the ground, covering his hands, covering—Link. And the guard. And the—

Had he really…

_Kill._

_Kill._

_Kill. Kill. Ki—_

"Fucking snap out of it, Walker!"

The first thing that Allen was aware of was the stinging pain of both his cheeks. The next thing he registered was Kanda's deep, dark eyes, boring into his own dull ones. He willed his eyes to focus on Kanda. On the here and now. Grounding him to reality.

"Breathe."

It was then that Allen realized he'd stopped inhaling oxygen, and then he gasped for breath, taking in the much-needed air. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… It was a few breaths later that Allen regained some semblance of his normal breathing pattern, his heart calming down and beating in a more regular pace.

His eyes were focused on the black strands covering Kanda's forehead, and then the lines formed between those furrowed eyebrows. He took a deep breath and released it, and then he noticed that Kanda's hands were both on his cheeks, keeping him in place.

_Oh. _

"S-sorry. It's... nothing," Allen finally managed as his lips twitched in their unsuccessful attempt to form a smile. Well, what more could he say?

A heavy sigh escaped Kanda's lips as he slowly retracted his hands, eyes closing in a tired manner. "Whatever," he started in a low voice, but it was nowhere near dangerous as it usually would be. Instead, it was really _almost _gentle, if a little gruff.

The older of the two finally stood up, giving Allen a once-over and clucking his tongue lightly. "Finish your damn food and then sleep or something."

The boy only nodded, eyes still focused on the grounds. He saw Kanda's boots turning to the other direction, and then slowly retreating to the exit.

He didn't look up, and didn't continue eating the strawberry bread, either. But Allen did take another bread—the wrapper said peanut butter—and slowly unwrapped it. He glanced up to see Kanda pausing in his tracks to look back over his shoulder, but as soon as he took a bite, the samurai proceeded to walk away, and then disappeared around a corner.

Allen took another bite, and, despite it was only a small, microscopic and more bitter than genuine, a smile formed on his lips.

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><p><strong>~NeverEnding~<strong>

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><p>.<strong><br>**

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed~ and please don't break my heart by leaving without reviewing? *puppy eyes*

Oh, and for those waiting for the last chapter of Days Passing By, please be patient, I'll try to finish it as soon as I can. Work's been crazy lately, so xp

Thanks for reading! :D


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